One difficulty that people face in getting an appropriate amount of exercise is scheduling adequate time to exercise. Often, people fail to exercise because they fail to arrange a time to go to the gym or to simply go outside to run, bike, or participate in some other activity. Often, people utilize exercise equipment in their home in an effort to make exercising more convenient and to alleviate scheduling concerns because they can theoretically exercise whenever they are home. However, even with such equipment, some people fail to exercise as much as they desire.
Another difficulty that people face in staying in shape is the amount of time that they spend involved in sedentary activities. For example, many people work in an office environment where they sit at a desk for 8 hours or more a day. Sitting at a desk for such extended periods of time can lead to physical issues including weight gain, muscle atrophy, and back problems.
There are numerous types of apparatuses and devices that are currently available to help individuals exercise and maintain a desired level of health and fitness. One popular type of exercise equipment is a treadmill. Treadmills conventionally include a continuous or circuitous belt positioned about one or more rollers associated with a deck (sometimes also referred to as a platform). One of the rollers is often driven to move the belt in a circuitous fashion while a user walks, jogs or, runs on the belt. As the user exercises on the treadmill, his or her feet typically land on the belt at a location that is supported by the belt and deck.
Some treadmills have tried to provide a user with more convenience in exercising such as constructing the treadmill so that the user do activities on the treadmill at the same time he or she is exercising. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0234111 issued to Packham describes a mid-deck hinged treadmill deck that allows the deck of a treadmill to fold into small spaces which is useful to any use where space is limited. A few examples of such uses or applications are treadmills that fold under desk tops or treadmills that fold into furniture or treadmills that fold out of wall fixtures. The smaller volume required to box, ship and store the mid-deck hinged treadmill also lowers freight and storage costs simply because more units will fit into a shipping container or warehouse space. To function properly the mid-deck hinged treadmill deck requires a rear mechanism that loosens the rear roller when it is being folded or unfolded and then locks or tightens the rear treadmill roller when it is used. Other treadmill are described in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2012/0088633 issued to Crafton and 20120174833 issued to Early, et al.